Dana Delany on "Jules et Jim"
Seated in Bree's house on set at Universal Studios (NOT DISNEY?)
in Hollywood, made it easy to imagine the cameras rolling as the
cast members of Desperate Housewives adopted their characters. Dana
Delany (who has played Katherine Mayfair for the past two seasons)
appears with an air of calmness and is extremely graceful with her
movements as she talks of playing charades, why she loves looking
at dirty dishes in the sink, and making one of her fantasies become
a reality.
It's common knowledge that fans have been and still are desperately
keen to see Susan (Teri Hatcher) and Mike (James Denton) rekindle
their love. So one of the biggest surprises to hit Wisteria Lane in
the latest season has been the story involving Katherine getting
together with Susan's ex...
"I'm very happy about it," says Delany. "I was surprised. I didn't
know it was coming... I think they had originally planned to have
me having something with Orson actually, to upset Bree. But they
changed their mind. That's the great thing about the show - and I
love working with Jamie, he's just a dream to work with."
Ok, so Katherine has hooked up with the seriously hot plumber of
the show but what about sharing time with someone special outside
of Desperate Housewives?
"Well, as somebody my age who's dating, it's not that it's hard to
find men to date, it's more finding men that you want to
date. The older you get, you know who you are and you're more
discriminating and at this point in my life I really like being
alone. So it would have to be somebody special for me to give up my
freedom."
Despite enjoying cooking, she doesn't find it interesting if it
means making a meal for one and domestically, she claims she'd be
every cleaner's nightmare: "I'm a very messy person - that's where
we're [Delany and Katherine] very different. I grew up in a house
where my mother was pretty much of a control freak. So to the
extent my sister and brother and I still talk about this on the
weekends we had to pick up every stick in the property, and we
lived in six acres. So when I got to be an adult and live on my
own, I just took such pleasure in leaving clothes on the floor and
dishes in the sink and I still feel that way. I look at dishes in
the sink, and I get really happy."
Being over enamoured of dirty dishes is one thing but Delany's real
desire is camping with two men. She got very excited about a
recent scene where Dave, Mike and herself go camping in the pickup
truck: "I just got such a thrill out of that because it has
always been a fantasy of mine to go camping with two men. So
I said it was my "Jules et Jim" fantasy!"
Knowing that anyone in the show can depart at any time means
Delany's out to have fun both onscreen (fulfilling fantasies
outdoors with two men) and off - in the form of charades with
Marcia Cross, who plays Bree. Delany claims they are probably
the closest: "We live in the same neighbourhood, and we have the
same group of friends, and I think working together last year was
such a delightful surprise for us how much we enjoyed working
together that we sort of fell in love with each other, I think, in
the nicest way. We have a group that we play Charades with, so we
play Charades on Saturday together."
As much as fans are desperate for Mike and Susan to mend their
ways, the surprisingly saucy interlude between Katherine and Mike
is certainly entertaining fans the world over. If rewarding
fantasies on the show (camping trips included - tick) can be
orchestrated than let's hope this "Jules et Jim" interlude paves
the way for more saucy story lines for this China girl, turned
Desperate Housewife.
